[INDOLOGY] Publication announcement

[Michael Hahn]

Publication announcement:

Le théâtre de l'Inde médiévale entre tradition et innovation: le Mohar?japar?jaya de Ya?a?p?la. Par Basile Leclère. Marburg: Indica et Tibetica Verlag 2013. 614 pp.  Price: 84 €. ISBN 978-3-923776-55-9.

Contents:
Study. First section. An inquiry on dramatic genres. Chapter 1. Dramatic genres in medieval theatre. Chapter 2. Ya?a?p?la's Mohar?japar?jaya: an irregular n??aka. Chapter 3. The renewal of traditional genres. Second section. The functions of theatre. Chapter 4. Religious functions. Chapter 5. Political functions. Third section. The dramatic performance. Chapter 6. A theatre meant for the stage. Chapter 7. The spectacle and its audience. 
French translation of Ya?a?p?la's Mohar?japar?jaya. 
Index of rare words. Index of verses. Index of allegorical names. Index of historical names. Index of writers and works. Index locorum. General index. English summary. 

The book opens with a comprehensive presentation and study of the dramatic literature produced in India from the eleventh till the thirteenth century. In a first section, the genre of medieval plays is put to an examination in order to ascertain whether medieval dramatists barely imitated their forerunners or tried to compete with them. The second section deals with the new functions theatre seems to have assumed in medieval times. As suggested by the plays under review, dramatists made use of theatre to propagate their own faith to the detriment of the rival ones. They might also have invested theatre with political discourses, either legitimizing and justifying the power of their patron, or expressing their political ideals through contemporary or legendary characters. Lastly, the question of the staging of the plays is dealt with in a third section. Evidence attesting that theatre was meant for the stage has been systematically collected from various kinds of sources, plays, treatises, inscriptions as well as archaeological data. Besides, a last chapter examines to which extent the text of the performed play was understood by the audience.
The study is followed by the first translation of the Mohar?japar?jaya, "The Defeat of King Delusion", written in twelfth century Gujarat by the Jain dramatist Ya?a?p?la. Depicting allegorically the conversion of the Caulukya king Kum?rap?la to Jainism, this play is fully representative of the innovations introduced by medieval playwrights into dramatic literature and, as such, has often been taken as the starting-point of many discussions in the study. Based on the editio princeps and occasionally improved by the reading of the available manuscripts, the translation is supplemented with footnotes explaining difficult passages or enigmatic allusions, and the volume ends with several indices which help the reader to have an insight into the study as well as into the translation of the play. 


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Prof. Dr. Michael Hahn
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